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City's Controversial Top Lawyer Stephen Patton Steps Down

By Heather Cherone | January 20, 2017 8:26am | Updated on January 20, 2017 8:45am
 The city's new lawyer is Edward Siskel, who worked for President Barack Obama before joining the Washington, D.C. law firm WilmerHale.
The city's new lawyer is Edward Siskel, who worked for President Barack Obama before joining the Washington, D.C. law firm WilmerHale.
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Flickr/Joselito Tagarao; submitted photo

CITY HALL — The city has a new top lawyer, one week after the U.S. Department of Justice that found the Police Department routinely violated the civil rights of Chicagoans by using excessive force.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel tapped Edward Siskel, who worked for President Barack Obama before joining the Washington, D.C. law firm WilmerHale, to be the city's head legal advocate.

With the approval of the City Council, Siskel will replace Stephen Patton, who has served as the city corporation counsel since 2011 and is stepping down to pursue other professional endeavors, according to a statement from the mayor's office.

"Having started my legal career in Chicago, I look forward to coming home and returning to public service on behalf of the city and its residents," Siskel said in a statement.

Siskel, 44, is expected to begin on an interim basis in mid-February, the mayor's office said. If confirmed, he will earn $173,664 a year.

Siskel — a nephew of the late Tribune movie critic Gene Siskel — clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens before working as deputy White House counsel and as an associate deputy attorney general in the Obama administration.

Siskel joined WilmerHale as a partner in 2014. The firm represented the city during the federal civil rights investigation, earning $979,000, but Siskel was not part of the team that worked on the city's case, the mayor's office said.

Emanuel praised Patton for helping to negotiate an agreement with the Department of Justice to begin negotiating a legally binding agreement — known as a consent decree — to ensure that reforms are implemented under the authority of a federal judge.

Stephen Patton

Patton leaves the city knowing "his work made a difference for Chicago and its residents,” Emanuel said in a statement.

"Steve has worked tirelessly on behalf of the city, and approached every issue, every case and every question with integrity," Emanuel said.

The mayor also praised Patton for helping to win a judge's ruling that the city had complied with the Shakman Accord, and no longer needed to be monitored by federal officials to prevent unqualified — but politically connected — people from getting city jobs.

In addition, Emanuel lauded for Patton helping to negotiate a $5.5 million reparations fund for the victims of Police Cmdr. Jon Burge who tortured African Americans suspected of crimes for two decades.

But Patton's six-year tenure as the city's top lawyer was not without controversy.

Patton recommended not releasing the video of a police officer fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times, saying at the time its release would compromise the ongoing investigation into the teen's death.

The graphic video set off a wave of protests that eventually toppled former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and sparked the federal investigation.

In addition, a federal judge ruled in January 2016 that an attorney for the city intentionally concealed evidence during the civil trial of two officers who shot and killed a man in 2011 during a traffic stop.

The judge overturned a jury verdict that cleared the officers of wrongdoing, and harshly criticized the city for concealing evidence from the the victim's family.

In December, the City Council agreed to pay $2.34 million to settle the case.

The case prompted city officials to hire former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb to conduct an independent investigation of whether the Patton-led Law Department routinely concealed evidence or engaged in misconduct.

Webb's 5 ½-month investigation said the incident in the Pinex case was unique and was not part of a larger culture of wrongdoing. However, the report made 50 recommendations in how to improve the division's operations.